Dear Mr Government

SJ Snelson - 15 Apr 16

Do you realise how many flexible working applications are turned down and the reasons given by the employer?

A whole host of employers aren’t quite geared up to support the number and variety of flexible working applications being flung their way and therefore make the least creative and quickest decision, which in my opinion (and many others) is often not the best for the employee nor the employer.

It is great that we now all have the right to apply for flexible working and do not need to disclose the reasons for the application but what is the point of applying if they are ill-considered? It appears they are often decided by rigid minds without creativity or the time available to review the application holistically, especially in large companies with long standing structures and matrices that “work” and therefore could not possibly be altered, even by way of a trial.

I question whether simply the right to apply for flexible working is enough.

I understand that smaller companies could find accommodating requests difficult and perhaps impossible; but are larger companies employing people in the 1000s and 100,000s, 1,000,000s fulfilling their duty to consider applications properly? Are they helping our working society’s attitude to become more family friendly and in turn more equal? Or do they all have a “strong business case” to enable them to reject?

Do you have the statistics? Do you have the number of applications, the number of appeals, the number of acceptances, and an idea of the reasons for refusal? If not, why not? How can you know a policy change is suitable and appropriate if you are just assuming it is working and do not have any measure of the changes it has made?

So many people are scared to speak up about this. My friends and family have concerns that I will bring trouble to my door which will make my working life difficult, but now is not the time to be silenced with fear, now is not the time to be hushed, it is the time to speak. This is about our society and the legislation and guidance available. Currently there is little by way of escalation or support if your application is mishandled or misjudged – for example if you have worked in the working pattern requested for a substantial period of time but it is still rejected as a change associated with flexible working. This happens frequently to women returning from maternity leave; as many women work for months with reduced hours in the later stages of pregnancy because of annual leave or due to appointments – Not an eyelid is batted and business life generally ticks over without complaint. How is it that an employer in this position can state that the possible is outright impossible on “strong business grounds”? How is this fair, how is this right, how is this serving our society, how is it supporting the cultural shift – the shift where parents want to work and support their families?

It is not just women – men want to be valued as working parents. They want to be taken as seriously when making applications. They are fathers and shouldn’t be mocked or viewed as a man on a career decline because he expresses an interest in his family life. He too should be respected for his decision and most certainly not have employers consider it any less important than an application from a female employee.

I understand the current Government has stated that it is willing and committed to look into the disproportionate number of women in comparison to men in the higher paid, higher powered, and higher skilled jobs. I understand this Government is committed to looking into the Equal Pay Gap. I hope this Government is also interested in smashing the glass ceiling which seems to be ever present.

Imagine if we had a culture where men and women felt they could both be valued at home and at work; imagine if we promoted balance for both parents; imagine a culture where parents work productively and happily without exhaustion as the opportunity to strike a balance is there. The problem at the moment is the Right to apply for flexible working is there, but businesses don’t appear to want to readily enable change and cannot understand or are unwilling to see out the long-term benefit of retaining experienced, passionate and happy workers.

In a society that now accepts that a father has an invaluable role within the family, within our culture and within our society, where we are making great strides in relation to sharing maternity leave and potentially extending the paternity period to 3 months, surely we can see that if more flexible working applications from men were granted, then more women would also have a way in to higher powered, better salaried positions. Perhaps this would then reduce the equal pay gap and begin the shattering of the glass ceiling.

Why are lower skilled jobs more flexible? Solely because more people can do them (?) – If this is the case why would a company not want to keep their more difficult to source, higher skilled employees, by building in the flexibility they require? Why wouldn’t they welcome job shares allowing the stress and tension to be reduced?

If this Government is serious in tackling the equal pay gap – should it not also consider the compatibility of the work place with family life? Mothers and fathers want to raise their children but are being held back, refused the opportunity to have the time without falling off their career ladder. Is this to the benefit of our society, especially now that Grandparents are working later into life so childcare falls to nurseries who are often oversubscribed and underfunded. There are too many parents desperately struggling to find a route, a way, a compromise to be there a little more, to have the time to raise their children, and our future.

I think it is true that if women could find flexible higher powered and salaried positions after having children they would take them and if men did not feel shamed for taking a step into their family they would. There probably would then not be such a frequent requirement to step down the ladder or take a career break for those parents who are committed to both their work and their family. Employers would save money on recruitment, on training, on electricity and water, and probably on sickness.

Perhaps if the Government really want citizens of this country to have these opportunities to flourish at work and at home it will promote an awareness, task large companies with targets, and challenge the work place standards and then eventually maybe the dream of equality in the workplace will be the norm.
Perhaps the Government would like to look into the need for further and detailed guidance for the employer and employee; may be the Government could outline what warrants a “strong business case”. Should businesses be encouraged and incentivised to offer trials where they are unsure? Should they be challenged to view their workers as assets rather than something that can easily be replaced? Should appeals be regulated in some way so that support and advice to both the employer and employee can be more readily available?

Something needs to be done. Flexibility in attitude needs to be promoted from the front, by the rule keepers and decision makers, in order for equality and improved prospects for both genders in the work place to come to fruition.

It clearly will not always be possible to accommodate flexible working applications – but sometimes, and many times, the solution is overlooked.

I ask that you meet with groups of flexible working applicants and employers (both big and small) to uncover what is really happening, because in the silence there is fear from both the employee and the employer. The process is often not open or transparent, and puts the applicant and line managers in an uneasy position.

Instead of flat refusals should the onuses not be on the employers to offer alternative solutions, ideas, compromises, discussions and trial periods if there is going to be a real cultural change within the workplace and for gender equality? The Government needs to lead a change in corporation thinking.

We are heading in the right direction but a lot more needs to be done.

And if not you, who? And if not now, when?

So please look into this in our area and then wider afield if you would be so kind.

Taa.
The Mama Cave.

SJ Snelson

I'm SJ. Living in Brum, in the middle land. I have 1 crazy bambina, 1 step-teenager, and 1 husband (who fluctuates between superman and Magneto - often depending on my mood). My family and friends are always my staples, my clan, my tribe – and Bambina my hero. Find me on insta @themamacave

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